Perplexity AI is a generative AI tool that produces the most relevant results according to search. Perplexity minimizes the complexity of irrelevant results in regular search engines. That’s why it is called Google Killer; it filters the search results and provides relevant information only. So, Perplexity is not a regular chatbot; it is more like a search engine, which can save you time by providing your desired information on one page. You don’t need to visit all web pages to find your information.
I have been using Perplexity AI in my research work for the past few months; it saves lots of time for me. In this article, I will give an honest review of perplexity AI so that you can decide whether it will work for you or not.
Introduction of perplexity interface
Perplexity AI has a minimal-looking user interface. The interface is divided into two sections: the main search area is in the right section, and below the search are the focus and attach buttons.
In the left section, there are some key functions like Discover & Library, and at the bottom of them, there is the settings option.
How perplexity Ai works
Perplexity AI combines advanced artificial intelligence technology, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), large Language Models (LLMs), and real-time web search, to synthesize and summarize data and provide the best possible results.
Some key capabilities:
- Chatbot interface that allows natural language queries.
- Summarize search results into direct answers.
- Provide sources with the results for verification.
- Real-time web search capability to produce updated results.
- Search results are from specific sources like Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, etc.
Perplexity AI can be helpful to researchers who are researching something and don’t want to be dragged into Google searches. As Perplexity AI generates answers from the best articles on that topic and provides sources from where it extracted the data, it becomes easier for a researcher to find citations.
Perplexity AI stands out with its unique feature that allows users to upload files like PDFs or Word documents for summarization. This feature is particularly useful for researchers, enabling them to easily review and improve their articles. The AI has many other use cases, which will be explored in more detail later.
Focus Search
Perplexity AI has a unique feature called focus search, which sets it apart from other AI tools in the market. Focus search allows users to generate answers from specific sources.
Let’s explore the focus search feature; when you click on the focus, some options will appear,
- Web (search all over the internet)
- Academic (search for academic research papers)
- Math (search for solving mathematical problems)
- Writing (generate content without searching on the web)
- Video (search for videos on specific topics)
- Social (search for discussions and opinions on social media)
- Reasoning (search for complex questions)
Let’s conduct a search in Perplexity AI and see what it produce. Our first search is a normal search with pro chat off and web focus.
When I searched “How to learn AI and improve productivity?” It gave me a proper guide about the topic and suggested a video to watch.
It also gives options for search related Images and videos and also it can generate image related to the topic (more on that later).
Most important part is that perplexity not only gives answers but also provides the source of those answers.
It gives me answers with sources, so I can easily verify the answers, exclude the source I don’t want, and customize the answer.
You can easily uncheck the source you don’t want, and data from that source will be removed.
Perplexity AI also suggests related queries about the topic, like Google, so that anyone can easily clarify the topic. The suggestions really work well and are on point.
When I conducted the same search with the pro option, I got some interesting results. With Pro Search it suggests some resources and methods to learn AI and techniques and tools to improve productivity. These features are super useful for me, especially when I am learning something new.
When I want to know what is going on social media and I don’t want to be destructed on another topic I use social focus search. It provides me summarized answers about that topic and what people are thinking.
The same things work with YouTube videos, when I need videos on a specific topic, I use video focus search, it finds videos on that topic from the internet.
Perplexity AI for content & image generation
Perplexity AI may not be as good as other generative AI like ChatGPT in content creation. It has a writing focus option that is used to generate content. I asked Perplexity AI to “write a LinkedIn post about recent research on AI,” and the result was,
It is not a perfect LinkedIn post. But I can take information from here and write it again myself, but it is not what I am looking for.
It can also generate images, but not the way I want. The image generator can only produce paintings, photographs, illustrations, and diagrams.
And it does not allow any custom instructions to generate images. It generates images related to the topic we search for. Sometimes, it produces cool images and sometimes not what i actually want.
Perplexity Ai pro features
Perplexity AI pro version allows some pro features like pro search and use of third-party LLMs.
If we click on the gear icon on the left bottom corner, we will see the pro features of Perplexity AI (only pro user)
Perplexity AI supports some of the most high-quality AI models, like
- Default (Optimized for faster search by perplexity)
- GPT-4o (The latest advanced model by OpenAI)
- Sonar Larger (Advanced model trained by perplexity based on Llama 3.170B)
- Sonar Huge (Advanced model trained by perplexity based on Llama 3.1405B)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Latest fast model by Anthropic)
- Claude 3 Opus (Latest advanced model by Anthropic)
Users have the flexibility to use any LLMs model they like and change them according to their use case. Users have the freedom to use any LLMs model according to their needs.
The pro version also allows one to select image generation model; it has
- DALL-E3 (latest image generation model by OpenAI)
- Playground v3 (Latest model by playground.com)
- Stable Diffusion XL
- FLUX.1 (Latest model by Black Forest Labs)
You can’t generate images directly by giving instructions; Perplexity AI will use this model to generate images related to the search.
Profile personalization
When we use any AI tool, we need to give instructions to generate answers. As AI tools don’t know anything about us, they can’t produce answers properly. We always need to give context to produce a better answer.
In Perplexity AI, there is a profile customization section. Here, we can input our personal information to generate a personalized answer, and we don’t need to write a prompt with context to generate a personalized answer. As it has our personal data, it will synthesize it and produce an appropriate answer for us.
Perplexity API
Perplexity AI has its API feature, which is useful for developers who want to use perplexity ability in their software or app. From the API settings, just copy the API key and paste it to your own program.
Working With Media Upload
Perplexity AI allows you to upload media files like image, PDF, text file like other popular generative AI ChatGPT, Gemini. It is a super useful feature for me as i always need to work with large PDFs. Perplexity helps me by breaking down a large PDF into some important bullet points.
Before starting the blog, I was searching for the perfect color pallet that represents my blog topic best.
So, I downloaded some PDF related to color theory and uploaded it in Perplexity AI and asked to summarize it into ten important points.
Look what it produces for me, a perfect breakdown of the PDF
Now the fun part began, now I will ask to suggest brand color for my website, and it will suggest me color using the knowledge we provided, and it will search related source in internet.
When I asked for suggestions, it suggested me the color that represents AI most.
Content Library and Collaboration
Perplexity AI has its own content library where all the threads, pages, and collections are saved.
To save anything in the library head over to the library option and you will find a new page.
Click on the collection option, and a form will appear, Give a title and description of your collection, and you can also select an emoji for the collection.
Then click on the create option. A collection will be created.
And you can also turn a thread into a page
When you click on the convert to page button on the top right, the thread will be converted into a page. The page can be published on social media and share with friends.
Perplexity AI pricing
Perplexity AI offers two packages, standard and professional. Standard package allows 5 pro searches daily, and pro package allows 300+ pro searches daily, and pro package gives flexibility to use different AI models for content and image generation. The Pro package also includes $5 API credits per month.
Perplexity AI also has an enterprise package, which costs 40$ per month and 400$ per year, and 250 employees can share the account.
The Enterprise plan provides features like:
- Increased data privacy
- Enhanced security
- User management
- SOC2 Certification
- Data Retention
- And Single Sign-On (SSO)
Pros and cons of perplexity Ai
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
|
Is it worth giving a try perplexity AI?
Perplexity Ai does not have many features, but it is very good at what it does. If you are a researcher or self-learner and you need a tool that does the hard part for you, definitely perplexity AI should be your pick.
